


A Wonderful Guy

by TevinterPariah



Series: Seblos One-Shots [4]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Era, Confessions, Episode 01x07, First Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Disaster Carlos, Gay Disaster Seb, I really have a thing for this carpool headcanon apparently don't @ me, Insecurity, Late Night Conversations, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Missing Scene, Mutual Pining, Pining, Seblos, Short Circuiting Carlos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21933784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TevinterPariah/pseuds/TevinterPariah
Summary: “I guess, but only for you, love,” Carlos says with a smile, “It’s a date then.” With that, all the excitement in Seb’s face falters and the happy flush on his face is a shadow of its former self. Carlos doesn’t know what to do and prays to whoever is listening that Seb will open up to him this time. This time, feeling bolder, he grabs the other boy’s hands instead of his shoulder so that Seb is facing him and can’t try and run away this time, “Are you sure you’re doing okay? You’ve been acting strange.”“Carlos, can you please stop calling me that?” Seb says in a desperate yet crestfallen tone. He can’t bear to meet the choreographer’s eyes and the second he finishes speaking, his eyes retreat to his lap.“Calling you?” Carlos asks in confusion, not sure what he’d been doing wrong.Seb shortly gives him the answer he was looking for, as the blonde fiddles with his shirt hem and curling into himself, “Calling me love. It’s confusing.”_ _ _A Missing Scene Fic from Episode Seven" Thanksgiving?" in which Seb drives Carlos home from the party and Carlos's consistent pet name slip-ups lead to Seb and Carlos having to discuss what they are.
Relationships: Carlos/Seb Matthew-Smith, Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Series: Seblos One-Shots [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1576519
Comments: 10
Kudos: 92





	A Wonderful Guy

**Author's Note:**

> So, first of all, I need to stop writing fics at 2 am most nights cause this is becoming a habit, which I'm fine with, but also need to wake up in the morning. But also Seblos content... 
> 
> Title is inspired by "A Wonderful Guy" from South Pacific because it's actually one of the best and most underrated songs of that show and it fit my ending well.

“I still cannot believe you made this when you were seven,” Seb says as he pores over the High School Musical: The Choosical board in the front seat of his pick up next to Carlos. The dancer watches as Seb gently spins the Game of Life Wheel, and delicately rubs his fingers across the paper mache magazine clippings of Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron. 

Carlos musters an awkward laugh and brushes his hair behind his ear, “Well I definitely had a lot of free time, I’m just glad you and everyone else liked it.” He tries to stop staring at the boy sitting next to him, but he can’t make himself look away. Seb is studying  _ his  _ game, the silly game he made when he was seven in hopes he’d finally have people to play with one day, and trying to drink in every single detail. It was enchanting.

When Seb looks back up at him with a soft smile on his face, Carlos breath hitches and he prays that Seb didn’t know he had been so intently watching him. “Carlos, we all loved it, I didn’t think there was a way to get EJ, Ricky, and Nini to have fun together, but you worked your magic once again.” Seb gives him a quick wink and smiles at the choreographer, which causes Carlos to short circuit. 

_ Shit. Was Seb even aware of how wholesome, clever, yet incredibly smooth he could be at the same time? He could kiss him. But he wouldn’t, that would be overstepping their boundaries right? He and Seb weren’t “dating” yet, and that’d probably just scare him away. If Seb wanted to ask him out, Seb would ask him out right? No need to ruin this year and a half long infatuation by being an idiot and misreading the situation. Don’t try anything new Carlos, stick to the status quo. Opt for being cute and comedic, that works right? _

“Don’t make me cry the second time tonight, love. Once was already enough,” Carlos feigns wiping a tear from his eye and Seb giggles in response, but shortly after lets out a soft sigh. Carlos isn’t quite sure what’s wrong and is making Seb so tense all of a sudden. _ Was it something I said? _ Carlos puts a hand on Seb’s shoulder and squeezes it to get the boy’s attention, “You doing alright love?”

Seb winces a bit at the question and lets out a heavier sigh before gently closing the game board on his lap, and handing it to Carlos. Once his hands are free he runs a hand through his hair and adjusts his glasses, “Yeah, everything is fine.” He gives Carlos two thumbs up but Carlos is not buying it. Seb looks as if he’s about to say something, but stops himself and ends up getting lost in staring at his lap for a moment, before collecting himself, “It’s getting late and we probably should be getting home, besides I need to help shear the sheep tonight.” 

Carlos knows something is off with Seb, he's never seen the other boy this on edge before. When he asked Seb to homecoming a few weeks ago, he had been acting weird and passive for a hot second when he was thinking, but not for  _ this  _ long. He didn’t want to push it, “Yeah, that sounds good. You know the way?”

“Of course, It’s only the third time this week,” Seb says rolling his eyes. Carlos feigns offense to try and get some sort of smile out of the blonde next to him and is relieved when Seb smiles a bit to himself, still trying to look away. 

_ It’s working.  _ Carlos dramatically points at Seb and tries to act serious, but his smile keeps peeking through. “Look, you’re the one who offered and I appreciate your gallant chivalry.” 

“And I thoroughly enjoy your company, so it’s mutually beneficial,” Seb says shyly with a red blush dusting his face. He tries to keep his eyes focused on the road and away from the choreographer next to him who is similarly red.

_ So he does enjoy my company and isn’t just being nice to me because I’m the choreographer or cause he feels forced to? And thoroughly? That was a suggestive adjective. No. Stop. He’s just your long-time crush, driving you home after a party and expressing that he likes spending time with you. No big deal, this was totally normal. You have to change the subject. _

Carlos fiddles with the sleeve of his leather jacket and tries not to stare at the driver beside him. It’s just a couple more blocks, he can handle this. “Do you have any fun holiday break plans?”

Seb‘s eyes light up at the question and excitedly speaks and gestures as much as anyone driving can to Carlos. “Yeah, the day after Thanksgiving every year my family decorates the barn. We set up the lights and our tree. This year my sister and I made stockings for all the cattle. I made this cute  _ Gypsy _ themed one for the moo-cow, Caroline, obviously. She’s going to love it!” 

Carlos watches the boy in complete and utter awe, and the dancer’s heart just about stops when Seb lets out a small squeal and smiles incredibly wide just thinking about giving his cow her gift. Carlos could not even fathom how he could be this pure and wholesome and also sitting right next to him? He doesn’t expect, Seb to catch him mid-stare, making him incredibly flustered. Seb on the other hand, doesn’t seem to notice and is still beaming, “What about you? Any fun holiday plans?” 

“No, uh, no plans, no fun. I mean, we have fun, we just don’t have anything planned yet,” he disastrously gets out, earning him a small laugh from Seb, which Carlos finds a worthwhile consolation prize, “We usually don’t decorate the tree until Christmas Eve so we usually wait to celebrate until the week before Christmas. I  _ wish _ my family got in the spirit as early as you guys, that sounds lovely.” 

Seb thinks for a second before smiling at Carlos and asking, “Do you want to help us decorate tomorrow? I’m sure my family won’t mind and we can always use the extra help?”

Carlos blinks a bit in shock for a moment and doesn’t know what to say. People barely asked him to hang out at the movies or the mall, let alone partake in their family traditions on weekends. Nobody had asked him to spend time together like this before, let alone the boy he’d. Been crushing on since the fall musical. As Carlos wakes up from his dumbstruck states, he notices the look of concern across Seb’s face and the soft smile he loved so much was gone.  _ Carlos, the boy of your dreams asked you to meet his family and share in their traditions. Don’t just sit here. Say something to him.  _

“Yes!” Carlos blurts out, almost knocking High School Musical: The Choosical, off his lap. His enthusiasm surprises Seb, and Carlos tries to gather himself. He places a hand on Seb’s that’s not on the wheel, “Sorry, I would love to help you guys decorate your barn. Thank you so much for the invitation.”

Seb smiles widely at Carlos as he parks the truck on Carlos’s driveway. Once it’s stable, he looks at Carlos excitedly and clasps his hands together, “This is going to be great, I’ll pick you up around 8?”

“A.M.?” Carlos squeaks, unsure if he can physically do that on a vacation day. 

Seb giggles a little bit at Carlos’s surprise, “Yes A.M. I’ll be up around 5 milking the cattle, so you can  _ at least _ be up by 7 A.M.?” 

“I guess, but only for you, love,” Carlos says with a smile, “It’s a date then.” With that, all the excitement in Seb’s face falters and the happy flush on his face is a shadow of its former self. Carlos doesn’t know what to do and prays to whoever is listening that Seb will open up to him this time. This time, feeling bolder, he grabs the other boy’s hands instead of his shoulder so that Seb is facing him and can’t try and run away this time, “Are you sure you’re doing okay? You’ve been acting strange.”

“Carlos, can you please stop calling me that?” Seb says in a desperate yet crestfallen tone. He can’t bear to meet the choreographer’s eyes and the second he finishes speaking, his eyes retreat to his lap. 

“Calling you?” Carlos asks in confusion, not sure what he’d been doing wrong. 

Seb shortly gives him the answer he was looking for, as the blonde fiddles with his shirt hem and curling into himself, “Calling me love. It’s confusing.”

_ Oh _ . Carlos hadn’t even noticed he had been calling Seb pet names the whole evening. He remembered calling Seb ‘honey’ earlier and he had seemed fine with it and almost proud of it, so he had let his guard down more and let it out. He didn’t know he did it half the time, it just came out when he was talking to the gorgeous boy two feet away from him. In his head, they were already boyfriends, so of course he treated Seb like one, but he could tell why Seb was confused. They had never talked about what they were, they were in this in-between space of quasi-dating since homecoming, and Carlos did not want to make the first move. Apparently, to his dismay, his mind thought otherwise and Freudian slipped its way into the first move.

Carlos takes a deep breath before speaking, hoping he wouldn’t screw things up more than he already had, “I’m sorry Seb, I didn’t mean—“

Seb snaps his head up and grabs Carlos’s hands, looking into his eyes determinedly. “Carlos, it’s okay if you mean it,  _ god I want you to mean it,”  _ Seb says flushing beet red as he speaks, but still keeping true to his goal, “I just don’t know if you use these endearment terms for everyone, or just me? It’s confusing. I don’t think we’re dating? I’m honestly not sure what we are, and I don’t like not knowing.” Seb ends his outburst with a sigh as he let go of Carlos. He slinks into his seat and tries to avoid the dancer’s eyes after what could be taken as an indirect love confession. 

_ Seb wants me to call him love? God. He likes me back and we could have been together this whole time if I wasn’t so oblivious.  _ Carlos gets his wits together and softly asks Seb with a smile, “Do you want to be?” Seb looks at him with glossy eyes that are holding back tears in confusion. It takes everything in his power to not throw his game board off his lap and take Seb into his arms. “Dating, I mean,” Carlos adds for clarity, hoping it’ll change the blonde’s demeanor. 

Seb wipes eye from under his glasses and weakly nods, “I’ve been hoping to ask since homecoming, but didn’t think you’d want to, considering I somewhat stood you up and you probably hate me.” Seb lets out an awkward laugh before looking out the window, at anything but the choreographer next to him. 

_ This is it, all or nothing.  _ Carlos pulls Seb’s hands into his one more time and when the boy is still trying to avoid his gaze, Carlos lightly touches his cheek and turns Seb’s face toward him, “Seb, l don’t hate you, I could never hate you. I’ve practically praised the ground you walk on since  _ Brigadoon _ and I’m shocked it still took me that long to ask you to homecoming.” Seb lets out a cute laugh and smiles at Carlos, giving him the motivation to keep going. “I am honored that someone as charming and talented as you is my friend, let alone my boyfriend, and if I had the chance, I would want to be the same for you.” 

With that, Carlos is taken aback by the tight embrace of the boy next to him who has thrown his arms around Carlos’s neck and buried his head there as well. Seb softly mumbles, “I would be honored to be your boyfriend, Carlos,” as he holds the boy closer to him. Carlos after realizing what’s happening wraps his arms around Seb as well. 

The two boys stay locked in their embrace for a few moments before breaking apart, both with soft smiles plastered across their faces. “So that’s a yes for the date tomorrow then _?”  _ Carlos asks Seb with a grin on his face and red-faced Seb quickly gives him a kiss on the cheek. Carlos lets out a laugh, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Of course it was  _ love,  _ I can’t wait to see you tomorrow,” Seb replies with a huge smile. Carlos returns the favor and quickly kisses an unsuspecting Seb on the cheek before getting his bearings together to get out of the truck. 

Carlos smiles at his work of rendering Seb dumbstruck and incredibly flustered for the first time this evening. “I’ll see you then. Goodnight  _ love _ !” Carlos says as he gets out of the car, trying not to mess up or trip in front of Seb on the way inside. It takes everything in his power to leave Seb, but he knows he’ll see him in the morning, and if he wants to be awake to see said boyfriend, he  _ needed  _ to sleep. Before going inside he gives Seb a small wave and hurried inside and shuts the door gently, hoping he won’t stir any of his slumbering extended family. 

Once he hears Seb’s truck drive away he swoons with his back up against the door, clutching his board game to his chest. It still didn’t feel completely real, that Seb was his boyfriend, he thought that not even in his wildest dreams would Seb truly like him back. If his whole family wasn’t asleep he’d certainly be singing “A Wonderful Guy” throughout the house because he certainly felt high as the Fourth of July this Thanksgiving, and there was no doubt about it, he was in love with a wonderful guy. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to all you sweet and lovely and soft humans who have been reading and supporting my trash content, I appreciate all of you. You all own my whole heart.


End file.
